Cute Pope News, vol. 2

13Jul

The National Catholic Register reports cheerfully that 12 Catholic youth will have lunch with Pope Benedict XVI on August 19, 2011. According to the linked story, the Pope will meet separately with “two young people from each of the five continents that are represented, as well as two young people from Spain.”

That’s so cute!

In other Cute Pope News, or at least Cute Roman Catholic Church News, the New York Times reports that the pedophile priest scandal in Ireland is known to have continued at least until 2009, despite guidelines put in place in the 1990s that were designed to protect children. The RCC is reported to have dismissed the guidelines as a “study document,” and continued to insist that the clergy follow canon only.

Record numbers of Catholics left the church in Germany last year after hundreds of cases of previously unreported child abuse, both sexual and physical, came to light, including a case of a priest with a history of molesting boys who was returned to pastoral duties by the archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI. The priest was later convicted of molesting more boys.

The Irish Times provides a concise (and undoubtedly abbreviated) timeline of the abuse scandal. The events listed are not limited to Ireland.